International Property

Into the blue

For some it’s a “now or never” approach to a lifetime’s dream. Others are seeing cut-price opportunities and year-round sunshine. And for the more pragmatic, it’s a safety net to keep some assets in Euros. We are talking about buying holiday homes in Europe – and we are doing it in spades as the countdown to Brexit becomes ever louder.

Take Taylor Wimpey España, which reports a 100 per cent increase in UK-based buyers on the Costa del Sol since this time last year. Agencies in France claim a similar hike in interest among British buyers since the rights of anyone living or owning property in the EU were assured last December.

On the Market: golfer's paradise, Andalucia, 4.5m, whether you’re travelling with all the family or entertaining a group of friends, this stunning villa has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and six-metre high windows in the kitchen and living area. cluttons.com

Looking into the buying habits of Londoners, it’s the tax perks, sports facilities and seclusion of Portugal, the glamour, yachts and buzz of Ibiza and Mykonos, and the timeless allure of producing your own label wine from a Tuscan or Provençal vineyard which are the key desires.

The classic European hotspots remain the favourites for Londoners. Cluttons’ London Private Capital Survey, in association with YouGov, shows Portugal, Italy and Spain as the preferred property investment destinations for wealthy Londoners. “Many have had difficult investment experiences in these locations in the recent past, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, but markets appear to have settled and are once again attracting the attention of British investors,” says Faisal Durrani, Cluttons’ head of research.

On the market: secluded Portugal, 2.15m, Comporta, on the Troia peninsula just an hour south of Lisbon is becoming one of Portugal’s chicest, most laid-back resorts. This open-plan modern property in 22 hectares is a hidden paradise, comprising two houses, seven bedrooms and heated pool. savills.com

Portugal is riding a wave of its own in terms of attracting foreign property investors. “House prices have seen double digit growth as confidence returns in spades, and official statistics report a 20 per cent rise in the number of sales in Portugal between January and September last year,” says Durrani.

The Algarve is the stopping point for most. Entire pockets of south west London must sit empty in August as their residents decamp en masse to the mega-villas at Quinta do Lago, where wealthy families lap up six solid weeks of cocktails and canoes. Knight Frank’s head of European sales, Mark Harvey, reports a player who wasn’t picked for the England World Cup squad in Russia has his eye on a property there currently. Other footballers and well-off Londoners are looking at the resort’s latest release, Reserva, where apartments overlooking the lake cost from €2m (quintareserva.com).

On the market: Greek Villa, POA, with stunning views of the deep blue Aegean, this exceptional and rare villa in the exclusive area of Agio Lazaros on Mykonos has private beach access. There are ten bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a pool and 850sq m of living space. beauchamp.com

Relatively new, in a golf resort’s long lifespan, is Monte Rei (monte-rei.com), further east along the Algarve near Tavira, which is picking up interest from Londoners who find Quinta do Lago too busy. “The calm, very tranquil surroundings provide an appealing contrast to hectic London life and that’s held in high regard by our owners,” comments Brennon Nicholas, head of sales. Or tempted by the Non-Habitual Residents Visa, which promises tax breaks in return for spending at least six months a year in Portugal, many British buyers are looking at Lisbon – better for year-round culture and entertainment and great for holiday rental income when you’re not there. Others, purely with holidays in mind, are feeling the pull of Comporta, a tiny town with fabulous beaches and something of a cult ‘new’ destination that’s gaining traction among a glamorous crowd on the Alentejo coast, south of Lisbon. Savills, which are marketing a 22-hectare Comporta estate with an ultra-modern seven-bed house set in a forest of parasol pines for €2.15m, calls it a “hidden paradise”.

Value is at the forefront of most buyers’ thinking currently, which is sending them off at tangents – towards the Algarve, Southern Spain, Menorca and Mallorca’s east coast, suggests Mark Harvey. In Spain, Los Flamingos golf resort, half way between Marbella and Estepona, is “in” at the moment, says Harvey. “You can buy a good quality 400m sq-500m sq golf villa on a large plot with a pool from about €2m. If you tried to build it yourself, it wouldn’t be much cheaper and the best plots have gone and construction costs are starting to creep up across Europe as inflation and oil prices rise.”

On the market: Wine estate in The Var, POA, Provençal perfection, in this 11-bedroom beautifully restored bastide with pool, tennis court, lakes and 172 hectares, including eight acres of vines and 900 olive trees. Currently produces a high-quality private vintage wine. An hour from Nice airport. beauchamp.com

Where money is no object, the classic destinations for emotional purchases are Tuscany and southern France. “Italy is counter-intuitive given the political situation, but we are seeing a return of the kind of buyer who has a few million euros to spend, knows what they want, has sold one of their spare London apartments and their pile in the country and is tired of all the background political noise. It’s purely about lifestyle,” says Harvey.

Alternatively, they look to the Lubéron and the Alpilles in Provence, where Knight Frank reports strong demand among their London-based buyers, and increasingly the Var region, around St Tropez, “which had been in the doldrums,” says Harvey. He adds that a “grown-up, professional” vineyard in the Languedoc, with a beautiful house and wines that retail in the likes of Majestic or Waitrose, can be found for €3m-€4m.

“The flavour of the moment is to have an impressive, authentic house on a big tract of land in a prime area, so owners are assured privacy and serve their home-produced wine and olive oil to guests,” says Harvey. “Those with more money are looking for full agricultural holdings, which is basically a tax play. They get a wonderful house and acres of agricultural land and they don’t pay any property wealth tax or inheritance tax – but basically you are a farmer and it comes with certain obligations.”

On the market: Chianti wine estate, £5.7m,this manor house contains five independent apartments, a second building has two self-contained apartments and a former stable hosts a steam room and bathrooms for the nearby pool. hamptons.co.uk

The only obligation in Ibiza, on the other hand, is to enjoy yourself – and clearly a lot of people are in the market to do so as it’s the destination that Andrew Langton, chairman of Aylesford International, puts at the top of the wish list for his wealthy London clients. “While nowhere is recession-proof, the demand for holiday homes on Ibiza has outperformed the sister island of Mallorca and mainland Spain over the past five years and we don’t anticipate this will alter,” says Langton. “The island caters for everyone at different price levels with an overriding feeling of security.” Properties with scope to house a yacht are particularly sought-after, adds Knight Frank’s Edward de Mallet Morgan. “It’s part of the package these days and as places such as Ibiza become busier, a boat makes you feel you have something more exclusive.” He has just the thing: a modern 22-bedroom clifftop villa in San Juan, with mooring, for €17m.

The Greek island of Mykonos attracts a similar clientele and is one of the key areas where Gary Hersham, founder of Beauchamp Estates, is seeing demand from London’s super-rich. Corfu, too, is enjoying a renaissance. “The island is seeing great weight of demand for high-end summer rentals,’ comments Andrew Langton, “in part thanks to the latest series of The Durrells.”

Pictured top: Ibiza modern estate, 17m, ultra-contemporary estate set on a cliff near San Juan. The main house, two guest houses and staff quarters provide 22 bedrooms and 24 bathrooms – enough for family and friends – infinity pool, tennis court, private sea access and 24-hour security. knightfrank.com

Home swops

The world of highly vetted holiday home swops for the well-heeled

Homeowners who are deterred by Airbnb scare stories can find more select approaches to letting others stay in their precious assets, whether a London pad or Mediterranean villa with pool.

Holiday home swaps/lettings is a booming market – and one that big hotel groups are buying into. OneFineStay (onefinestay.com), which began by specialising in designer London pads, has been bought by the French hotel brand Accor and gone global. Lovehomeswap (lovehomeswap.com) is now owned by the Wyndham Hotel Group. And ThirdHome (thirdhome.com), a “reciprocal travel club” for owners of second homes worth on average £1.8m, has just added YOO and its worldwide developments to its list of affiliate partners, which also includes the Ritz Carlton.

This highly vetted and branded world of holiday rentals brings a new level of “trust, peace of mind and comfort” says Giles Adams, European president of ThirdHome, whose 10,000 members can either exchange time in their own home for stays at other members’ places or affiliated destinations around the world, or they can do a straight rental for cash.

“It’s a more modern way of travelling and using your asset. Collaborative consumption is now so much more accepted by affluent people that this is a really good way to travel,” says Adams. “Most members rent out their homes in a conventional way too, to cover running costs, but they still like the exchange side of the club for their own travel as it suggests they are ‘in the know’.”

Trust is key. Take Stay One Degree, the LinkedIn of luxury holiday lettings, with an online community in which owners rent their homes to people with one or two (or more – their choice) degrees of separation. Friends of friends, in other words. “There is trust and confidence that they won’t damage your house,” says co-founder Thomas Bennett, a former investment banker.

The club mentality, adds Adams, means it’s more of a host-guest relationship. “You are saying ‘I’ll look after your property in the way you’d want me to look after yours’.”

It’s also about the personal touch: the owner introducing guests to the maître d’ of the local Michelin-starred restaurant or inviting them to their otherwise impossible to get into golf club.

And it’s about trying out new places. Some of ThirdHome’s 120 London-based members have booked Lombok, Mozambique and Vietnam this summer.